The second novel in the Bloody Books imprint has recently been launched. Bill Hussey’s ‘Through A Glass, Darkly’ is very different from the first offering (Joseph D’Lacey’s ‘Meat’), a return to a more traditional horror/gothic tale.
Jack Trent is a very unique Inspector. Some call him a freak, simply because they do not understand. Because Trent is able to sense things, to glimpse into the future, and quickly solve cases others try for years to crack. But now, Trent is having bad dreams. He experiences ‘the dreaming’ and sees the horrible murder of a child in a forest clearing.
Reality collides with the dreaming when Trent is assigned to a missing person case. Along with his partner, Sergeant Dawn Howard, Trent travels to a small town named Crow Haven. This has to be one of the most eerie towns I have read about for some time. With so little described of its actual inhabitants, we soon learn that Crow Haven has a terrible history which involved the burning and burial of a witch, a curse on the town that sees no one born within its boundaries ever leaving, and an army of Crows keeping sentry. Trent and Howard arrive at Anne Malahyde’s house, a mansion made of glass tucked amongst the forest. Its previous owner was Dr. Elijah Mendicant, our ‘ghost’ for the novel and a brilliant villain.
Anne’s son, Simon Malahyde, is missing. However, the boy was not quite the same before his disappearance. He is one of the keys in a long-planned ritual that Dr. Mendicant’s spirit must perform in order to reincarnate his soul, part of a dark trinity. And, as the story develops, Trent learns that Jamie may be the next key, the main sacrifice for Mendicant’s reincarnation – the ritual itself the very scene from Trent’s dreaming.
Trent must race to stop this from happening (the novel takes place over one week, the countdown running before the reincarnation ritual is enacted), but he also must confront what makes him a freak to others. Trent’s mind houses a horde of potentially evil beings, ‘them’, who saved his life once but killed his mother, who have shaped his life so that he cannot touch people, lest the beings escape momentarily and see into other people’s minds or hurt others. This is a wonderful way to create a pained character – Trent used to have a relationship with Howard, and loved her and Jamie, but he could never get close to her and so had to break it off. It also makes him like the villain in a way, and presents a great conflict of the minds when it comes to stopping Mendicant. Trent is helped by Father Brody, who faced Mendicant when he was alive, and then a spirit, and lost (but lived to scribe the tale). Father Brody escapes from the Home for Retired Priests to return to Crow Haven before it’s too late, but his protégé, Father Garret, has already succumbed to the false promises of Mendicant. Garret has collected the rather morose items needed for the ritual – if you have children, like me, you will not like what unfortunately has to happen.
Congratulations to Hussey for giving the reader one of the most genuinely creepy foes in a long time. It is simply a return to old-school horror, using so much beautiful imagery to unsettle the reader’s nerves. Dr. Mendicant’s spirit is aptly labelled the Crow Man (with his own poem!), a dark stick figure who creeps through the shadows, who can see people’s fears and loves to exploit them. Just don’t stare into the dark void of his eye sockets! It has been a while since a horror creature has been able to creep me out, and there were some well-written scenes that had me considering getting out of bed and reading in a well-lit room.
That said, the novel uses a lot of back-story to carry it forward, and for me this was both admirable and annoying. The novel could almost be split into two – one telling the story of Crow Haven when Dr. Mendicant was living, and also its earlier days, and the other concerning Trent’s present case. Yes, the back-story deepens the novel, and that is why it is admirable. But amongst the horror, this is also a crime thriller, with a case to be solved, and the constant shift to past events (most in the form of Trent reading books, either in a brilliantly-executed ghostly library or from Father Brody) really destroys a lot of the tension, which Hussey has to work hard at re-establishing so you remember the limited time remaining for Trent to save Jamie.
Such a situation just seemed a little implausible at times – if you were in a rush to save someone, would you stop and read three volumes about your foe? On the other hand, knowledge is power, and Trent may never have gained a solution if he didn’t read (though only a small part of the conclusion was related to such a long set of passages). More of the original pace could have been retained, perhaps, if Father Brody simply told Trent about Dr. Mendicant on the way to face him. Excuses such as “No, you have to read” just aren’t solid, in my mind. Trent should have been more demanding for the verbal answers.
That said, the back story was so well written I did not mind being taken on long tangents. I only hope Hussey considers writing more stories in this realm (old Crow Haven, Trent’s earlier case). And the end, while inevitable (and with a slight twist), was quite intelligent.
Hussey writes with a lot of confidence. His prose is well-constructed, the words flowing effortlessly on most occasions. I feel this is the start of something big for this new horror writer, and can’t wait to see what he has to offer next.
The Bloody Books imprint is on a roll. Get this book and enjoy!
